Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment ColdFusion and Photoshop (Score 1) 520

For my part, I just hope that they don't do with ColdFusion what they did with Visual Fox Pro. It was a shame at the time and it would be the same now.

I also use Photoshop and Lightroom but they are cashcows and MS has nothing to compete against so I guess they will be safe for a while until Microsoft does a rewrite and completely FUBARs them.

Comment Re:Worry about app devs, not Microsoft or Google (Score 1) 199

The way I see it; Google is entirely entitled to make a profit, and a big one.

It all about my perception of what what they give back to the world for what they get in revenues.

The whole open-source comunity gives alot back for what they take.

A little higher in the scale would be Google. It's value in that regard is very high. Granted many of their tools and software are self serving; they are more than usefull and yes they bring rainbows into my life.

Microsoft does offer some value back but my perception is that it's alot less value for the money.

We can go on and Sun wold have been somewhere in the higher tier giving some value back to the world with Java, OpenOffice and MySql and some good boxes.

A little higher up the chain would be Oracle with their ridiculous enterprise software license that don't really score very high on the 'give back' scale and also for slowly killing off Sun's rainbows.

At the top of the chain, often invisible we have the patent trolls that make absolutely no efforts to give anything back but instead rake in billions by questionable means.

So Yes, for a Public, For Profit company; Google has alot to teach to everybody in terms of giving back good value. If people could follow this example and give back as much as they take; the world would be a better place... They are the ultimate torrent seeders as opposed to most other who are leechers.

Comment Conflict of interest... (Score 1) 281

From what I can see, Bell with its Bell TV satelite service has a lot to loose to Netflix as their Pay-Per-View @ 5.99$/film may suffer from Netflix's streaming (if available here) and could opt for a similar strategy and lower their monthly quota on their DSL access.

Videotron wich is a major cable operator and ISP and also the major owner/operator of video clubs is owned by Quebecor Media which also operate Archambault Music who sells DVDs. They, also, have a lot to loose to Netflix and may lower their monthly quota.

My plan with them was originaly unlimited and then they lowered it to 100gb/month so what's next?

Comment Notable quote... (Score 1) 172

The whole judgment is a very good read and one notable quote is on paragraphs 75-76.

It says that Microsoft is also present in court to sustain the RRQ's (wrong) decision. Microsoft says it's in its best interest to be there since Savoir Faire Linux is asking for a reversal of the contract attributed to Microsoft.

Paragrah 76 adds that in fact Microsoft is in fact there to sustain its monopoly.

Court cases involving technology are often misunderstood by the judge but in this case it's refreshingly not the case.

Comment Other reasons for downloading... (Score 1) 861

I didn't go the the movies to see the film but when it came out on DVD I decided to rent it. So here I was at home with my girlfriend ready to watch it.

I live in Québec and speak french most of the time but there's no way in hell I will watch a french translated movie especially when the original language is English. ...I put the movie in the DVD player only to realize that the only language on the DVD is french. 99.999% of all movies on DVD here in Québec have at least french and English available but not this one.

The stupid company who distribute the movie in Canada (Maple Pictures) has put out two versions of the DVD in each language and all the video clubs I went to had only the french version available.

BTW; Maple Picture is the company who put DVD sets of 'The Dead Zone' with episodes in the wrong order and missing episodes. They refused to correct the problems and these sets are still available today at Wal-Mart with a notice that client see only after opening the shrink wrap..

Anyways, granted I should have read the DVD cover better, I decided to download the torrent since I felt cheated out of my English version... I don't really feel bad for what I did.

Comment Patents... (Score 1) 253

Thant article is almost a patent application.

He should be awarded a retroactive unnecessary broad patent for everything wireless. Software and Hardware. We should also find a way to slip some video CODEC info into that patent.

That patent would have expired by now and it should neuter most trolls of today...

XBox (Games)

Modded Xbox Bans Prompt EFF Warning About Terms of Service 254

Last month we discussed news that Microsoft had banned hundreds of thousands of Xbox users for using modified consoles. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has now pointed to this round of bans as a prime example of the power given to providers of online services through 'Terms of Service' and other usage agreements. "No matter how much we rely on them to get on with our everyday lives, access to online services — like email, social networking sites, and (wait for it) online gaming — can never be guaranteed. ... he who writes the TOS makes the rules, and when it comes to enforcing them, the service provider often behaves as though it is also the judge, jury and executioner. ... While the mass ban provides a useful illustration of their danger, these terms can be found in nearly all TOS agreements for all kinds of services. There have been virtually no legal challenges to these kinds of arbitrary termination clauses, but we imagine this will be a growth area for lawyers."

Submission + - Record companies claim that Ellen DeGeneres show i

QuebecNerd writes: "In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, record execs claim "they have never received a single penny for the hundreds of songs Ellen's danced to over the years". They say that the show is worse than napster at stealing music.

See also this story and this one.

Certainly if she has 1/10th of Oprah's power, dancing to their songs helped them over the years!"
The Courts

RIAA Victim Jammie Thomas Gets a New Lawyer 241

newtley writes "Only days after Brian Toder, her previous legal representative, had decided discretion was the better part of valour, leaving her fend for herself against the RIAA, Jammie Thomas says another lawyer has come forward with an offer of pro bono help. He's K.A.D. Camara from Camara & Sibley in Houston, Texas, says Jammie. And, 'He's the youngest person in history to graduate from Harvard Law school with honors,' she points out. Nor will her retrial be delayed, as was expected. It'll now go forward in June 15, as slated. 'I'm so happy!' Jammie said."
Networking

Breaking Down the Demigod Launch 70

In addition to the piracy troubles that plagued Demigod's launch (and partly exacerbated by them), Stardock and Gas Powered Games ran into severe networking issues that hampered their ability to accommodate players with a legitimately purchased copy of the game. Brad Wardell has now posted a frank, detailed explanation of what happened and how they dealt with it. Quoting: "Demigod's connectivity problems have basically boiled down to 1 bad design decision and 1 architectural limitation. The bad design decision was made in December of 2008 when it was decided to have the network library hand off sockets to Demigod proper. In most games, the connection between players is handled purely by one source. ... So in Demigod, on launch day, Alice would host a game. Tom would be connected to Alice by the network library and then that socket would be handed to Demigod. Then, Alice and Tom would open a new socket to listen for more players to join in. As a result, a user might end up using a half dozen ports and sockets which some routers didn't like and it just made things incredibly complex to connect people and put a lot of strain on the servers to manage all those connections.
The Almighty Buck

Game Retailers Hurting Themselves With Digital Distribution 167

GameBiz recently had the chance to speak with Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, about pricing and distribution within the games industry. Wardell follows up a bit on the Demigod piracy fiasco from a few days ago, and mentions that retail outlets may be on their way out. "Retailers need to be careful about this stuff. They're kind of signing their own death warrants once they push digital distribution at the store. Once you have the thing set up — once you've experienced how to purchase the game or deal with it online — why would I go back to the store for the next purchase? Especially if the store isn't providing added value. If you're a retailer, you're killing yourself. If I can't get a game off Impulse, I'm going to Steam. I like stores, but I'm really lazy."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." -- Vince Lombardi, football coach

Working...